Quick Facts
Biography
Alan John Woods AC (30 March 1930 – 13 January 1990) was a senior Australian public servant.
Life and career
Woods was born in Woonona, New South Wales on 30 March 1930 to parents Oswald and Gladys May Woods. After attending St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill on a scholarship, he obtained a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Sydney in 1955 while working as an executive trainee for Dunlop Rubber Australia Ltd.
Woods began his Commonwealth Public Sector career at the Commonwealth Public Service Board in Sydney in 1955. He moved to Canberra in 1957, taking a research officer post in the Department of Territories.
In December 1977, Woods was appointed Secretary of the Department of National Development (later abolished and replaced by the Department of National Development and Energy, and then the Department of Resources and Energy).
Woods was appointed Secretary of the Department of Defence in 1986, but was replaced in a reshuffle of department heads in mid-1988.
Death
Woods became ill with cancer in the later part of 1989. He died of the disease on 13 January 1990 in Canberra.
References and further reading
- Nethercote, J.R. (2012), Woods, Alan John (1930–1990), archived from the original on 6 November 2013
- Search Australian Honours: WOODS, Alan John, Australian Government, archived from the original on 23 March 2014
| Government offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Jim Scully as Secretary of the Department of National Resources | Secretary of the Department of National Development 1977 – 1979 | Succeeded by Himself as Secretary of the Department of National Development and Energy |
| Preceded by Himself as Secretary of the Department of National Development | Secretary of the Department of National Development and Energy 1979 – 1983 | Succeeded by Himself as Secretary of the Department of Resources and Energy |
| Preceded by Himself as Secretary of the Department of National Development and Energy | Secretary of the Department of Resources and Energy 1983 – 1986 | Succeeded by Graham Evans |
| Preceded by Jim Scully as Secretary of the Department of Trade and Resources | ||
| Preceded by William Cole | Secretary of the Department of Defence 1986 – 1988 | Succeeded by Tony Ayers |